Tom
A companion of the Guardian and a love interest of Kate. Presumed lost following his sacrifice to defeat the Midnight Creature, Aaron was able to find him and bring him home, where he became the first of the Guardian's companions to live to retirement. Mission to the Chasm Tom had been a part of the Guardian's crew for some time. He was best friends with Aaron, and had a romantic relationship with Kate. To the Guardian, their group mirrored the situation once held by Kyle, Lucy and John. However, on a mission where the Guardian became convinced they had discovered the Chasm of Time, the Guardian was forced to sever his line and fall into the Chasm in order to allow his crew to return to the station safely. Kate and Aaron fell into high-atmosphere orbit above the station while Tom remained trapped on the station. Facing Midnight Tom and the other miners aboard the station soon became aware of a presence among them, displaced from the Chasm by the Guardian's plummet. Tom and the head engineer deduce the displacement properties of the Chasm. Something goes in, something comes out. The entity, soon called the "Midnight Creature" begins assimilating crew-mates, mimicking the actions of the still-free crew in order to learn from them. The chief engineer and Tom formulate a secret plan to use explosives to destroy a specific portion of the base. The chief transmits an SOS signal to one of the spacewalking groups, and the group is shortly assimilated after. Tom realizes the Creature is traveling on electromagnetic waves, including radio waves. He is unable to contact Aaron and Kate without exposing them to the Creature. Tom is soon the last free man in the station. Though the hosts regard him from a still position while he watches, when his back is turned they move in tandem with him. Cornered in the grand viewing room, he races to shut himself inside the caged platform. The hosts linger on the other side, staring at him. He screams at the Creature, asking if it will take him now. He turns his back, and is chilled to hear the words "not yet," the first independently-formulated speech made by hosts yet. Tom realizes the Creature still has not learned how to properly control human bodies, and if he assimilates Tom there would be nothing left to learn from, leaving the Creature in a dormant state. Laughing, Tom realizes this is his victory because the Creature could not have anticipated his plans, as he told no one, not even the chief engineer. The Creature believed the bombs to be where the chief left them, but Tom had secretly moved them. When Tom detonates them, they destroy the frontal foundation, sending the station plunging into the Chasm. Falling in the Dark Tom and the wreckage plummet into the depths of the Chasm, traversing across time and space on a seemingly endless plunge. While the specifics are unknown, the journey left him insane. As the conflict with Lossoriawath draws to a head, the Guardian defeats the Celestial Gatekeeper in a game of chess, winning Aaron the chance to pass through the Gatekeeper's gate in search of Tom. Aaron retrieves the mentally feeble Tom and his return awakens Kate's dormant memories. While somewhat incoherent, Aaron explains that Tom made it sound like the Midnight Creature was still out there somewhere. His memories are removed to cure his insanity, and Tom returns to the crew for a short time. At the frozen pole, a freezing Tom is pursued across the tundra by the ice creatures from Scilis 6. On communications with the Guardian, he shouts that some Thing-Over-The-Mountains is coming down, and its destroying the aliens. He is recovered and his story regarded with skepticism, although the insects are found to have disappeared. Shortly after, Tom chooses to retire back to Earth. The Guardian congratulates him, and the mood becomes dark when the reveals no other companion has survived to retire. No Happy Endings In a bid to get the Guardian's attention, Tom is kidnapped by Ted. The Guardian rescues him with the help of Nok's crew. However, strange things occur on their journey and Aaron discovers Nok has been assimilated by Ted. In a fit of rage, Aaron beats him to death with his trumanium leg. Eventually, it is revealed that Nok was infected by Tom, the original carrier. It was all part of Ted's plan to get aboard the ship. When "Tom" accidentally speaks like Ted, he is discovered and Aaron and the Guardian are filled with rage. Ted's Tom-form and three or four others corner the Guardian, Yvonne and Aaron on the bridge. This is where the Guardian reveals he has tricked Ted by using the Genesis Engine. He inoculates Aaron and Yvonne against Ted and proceeds to begin wresting mental control from Ted's main body on the planet down below. One of Ted's forms is infected by the altered strain and separated from the main hive-mind. Tom's body, still under Ted's control, writhes as two minds fight to control it. At this second, the recovered Ravager springs onto the bridge, taking advantage of the chaos and killing everyone present with Nok's bomblet rifle, including Tom's body. Tom's corpse, along with Aaron, Yvonne and the other militia members, was left rotting on the ship while the Guardian and Ted reverted back to human forms inside the Genesis Engine. With their bodies lost to putrefaction by the time the Guardian emerged, he designated this vessel as their funeral ship. When he flew it into the system's sun, Tom's body was vaporized in a cosmic cremation. Recalling Tom's fate, the Guardian later instituted a rule that any retiring crew members will have their memories wiped to prevent enemies from tracking them down. Disrupted Timeline Rejoicing the be reunited with Kate, the two happily pursue a relationship, but Tom cannot resist the call when he hears of a mission. He joins Kalve, John, Foray and Noven to hunt the Thrakr Fwatk, and is the first casualty of the mission, brutally murdered by the fiery being. Moonlight Game Tom fought his way through the Moonlight Game to be reunited with Kate once and for all. At the outset, he joined Kate at the Celestial Gamekeeper's prison of Old Beings, where he discovered her powers had returned, but they could do nothing to cure her of the poison that she had been struck with during the board game. Tom felt the weight of his own injuries, and stayed behind with her when the prison began to come apart. This time, they would go together.